Hot Docs line up

Yesterday, Hot Docs announced its official programming line-up for the 2006 festival, coinciding with the opening of the CBC Newsworld Advance Box Office, where tickets and passes for Hot Docs screenings can be purchased from now until the end of the festival.

Hot Docs will screen 99 films from 23 countries between April 28 - May 7, including 18 world premieres, 17 international premieres, 13 North American premieres, 30 Canadian premieres, and seven Toronto premieres.

Hot Docs' Canadian Spectrum programme features an impressive line-up, including Jean-Daniel Lafond's AMERICAN FUGITIVE: THE TRUTH ABOUT HASSAN (Canada), which follows David Theodore Belfield who is on the FBI's most wanted list for the 1980 killing of an Iranian diplomat. Other announced titles include the world premieres of: BOMBAY CALLING (Ben Addelman & Samir Mallal, Canada), following several characters at an upstart call centre in Bombay; UGANDA RISING (Jesse James Miller & Pete McCormack, Canada) about the Acholi people of Northern Uganda caught in a two decade long civil war, with 30,000 children abducted for use as soldiers and sex slaves; and MYSTIC BALL (Greg Hamilton, Canada), in which the filmmaker journeys deep into the little known culture of Myanmar and its national sport, Chinlone. Canadian Spectrum is sponsored by OMNI Diversity Television.

This year, an enhanced Special Presentations programme was announced, including the North American premiere of Atom Egoyan's CITADEL (Canada), the international premiere of Nick Broomfield's HIS BIG WHITE SELF (UK), and AN EVENING WITH WERNER HERZOG, an onstage interview with the legendary filmmaker, and this year's recipient of Hot Docs' Outstanding Achievement Award. Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Retrospective is supported by the Goethe-Institut.

A variety of documentaries are featured in the International Showcase, such as DARKON (Andrew Neel, Luke Meyer, USA), recent winner of the SXSW Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary; THE BEACH BOYS (Honi Hameagel, Israel), which follows several friends who have spent the past 30 years hanging out and cruising for women together on a beach in Tel Aviv; ARCTIC SON (Andrew Walton, USA), which follows the reuniting of a father and son in a remote Arctic village; FROM DUST (Dhruv Dhawan, Sri Lanka, UAE), which chronicles two families who struggle to rebuild their lives after the tsunami, despite surprising opposition; OILCRASH (Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack, Reto Caduff, Switzerland) which recaps the history of oil production and its dire consequences; VOICES OF BAM (Aliona van der Horst, Maasja Ooms, Netherlands) wherein survivors tell their stories in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Bam, Iran; WALKING TO WERNER (Linas Phillips, USA), about a young filmmaker who embarks on an epic journey of self-discovery to meet Werner Herzog, himself a legendary walker. Several Sundance hits will also be receiving their Canadian premiere, including IN THE PIT (Juan Carlos Rulfo, Mexico), IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS (James Longley, USA), SO MUCH SO FAST (Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan, USA), THIN (Lauren Greenfield, USA) and WIDE AWAKE (Alan Berliner, USA). International Showcase is sponsored by The Documentary Channel.

New this year is a special theme programme Join Me! How to Start a Revolution, featuring several films profiling activist efforts around the world.